An Attempt at Diplomacy
Team Titan Think Tank Issue 38- "Power War", Part One. "An Attempt at Diplomacy." Front cover- in the foreground of the cover, standing back to back, arms folded, standing on the ground, in their suits of power armour, are Tommy and Sonne Gunn, both with helm and force-field deactivated, smiling in confidence. To the left of them and just behind stands Atomic, holding out the palm of her left hand, generating a cloud of ash which seems to be forming into a sphere shape. To the right of them and just behind stands Master of Arms, with his spear out at the ready, expression as serious as usual. Standing in between, behind, and towering above the Gunns is 'Mister Tops.' And flying above him are Cain, wings outspread, Mr Psychic, levitating in a pink energy field, and Great Briton. In the background, standing in action poses are Damage Control (minus his sonic cannons he is still an unnaturally huge, strong and tough man, in a white vest with green army trousers), Iron Jack (with only one arm and eye, due to removed cybernetic parts, but still with cybernetic legs and head plate), Le Qui (who is seen as partially transparent, gun out) and Ripcage, fists formed into bone blades that droop down to the ground. And flying above everyone in the background, which a red aura spreading from him, is the Crimson Caber, both fists out to the side, his visor looking upward to the sky. The issue opens with... Narration- "Not long ago." We cut to Tommy Gunn looking up to the sky, as he sees the neon bright glows of the reactor pieces, as they explode in a white light. The white light shoots out, as he looks to his son. "Sonnnne!" he holds out his hand "Daaaaaaaaad..." Tommy watches Sonne disintegrate. He is knocked to the ground. He then stands, to find nothing but floating ash around him "No... not after all this ****..." The comic then cuts to show Tommy lying on the ground, eyes closed, as he twitches and mutters "No... no..." Narration- "Now." The comic cuts to above, and shows Iron Jack, Katana (the small Japanese woman, minus her former alien mechanised suit), Damage Control, Tommy and the Mega Heroes Parry and Glub, unconscious on the ground, all with flickering eyes, muttering as if in induced sleep. Mr Psychic drives his car onto the outskirts of the area of rubble, pink beam projecting from his hat. The piece of rubble he grabbed with his telekinesis is despoted in front of him. As Mr Psychic looks at the devastated area before him, Yu teleports to the ground. The two then look up, as Sonne and Tonic float down with two more pieces of rubble, out of an energy rift, as Caber flies through it, followed by Great Brtion, carrying another piece of rubble. Mister Tops, after being told to take cover, emerges from some rubble where he was hiding and wipes his suit down, and comes to the gathering of heroes. Tonic is holding Sonne's hand, clearly guiding him as they both land with a soft thump on their feet, and the rubble lands as if being gently placed. Cain lands last, wings folded behind him. Cain dusts himself off in a very similar manner to Tops, then moves to stand with him. Tonic leads Sonne over to the others, her eyes glowing a faint green from the radiation exposure, her steps a little unsteady. "Well, it appears you all have been busy in the interim", Mr Psychic says. "S...sorry to have vanished on you, Mr Pinkley...I had n...no time to explain." "Quite alright, young lady. You seem worse for wear as a result of it." "Glad to see everyone's looking... about as well as expected. Anything to report from the ground, Mister Tops?" Cain asks. "Not really, sir. Only one of the pieces of rubble hit, and it was apparently quite tiny." "G...good to see your care for your allies is as lacking as ever, C...cain." Sonne rubs his hands "I might be blind, but I am still a genius." "Speaking of which... direct me towards Cain, Tonic, I need to punch him", he says, not all too seriously, but in the way he looks around, it is clear that the blind comment is quite serious. "T...two steps to your left, six forwards." Sonne follows these directions. "So Cain... you know that big light you threw me that. Turns out... the higher I got, it got even BRIGHTER!" he doesn't look actually about to hit Cain, but looks exasperated, nontheless "...S...Sorry, Sonne, t...that light was my doing...all of it..." Cain opens his mouth, frowns, then rears his head back a little. "You... your suit. Your visor. It's adapted for space travel. It was... *surely* you configured to to counteract the Sun? I'd imagined you'd have encountered stars far brighter than the little one we had up *there* in your exploits!" "... I generally don't fly right into them. But you're right, wasn' your fault..." Sonne's shoulders slacken. "Sorry." "Cain...it was you? You sent him up t...there? H...had I n...not been there..." Her fists clench and the glow from her eyes seems to intensify Crimson Caber raises his hands. Not being generally aware of his situation yet. "My friends, mistakes have been made, but, the city has been saved from the threat you were sent to defeat. Conflict has no place between us." "Indeed. But this is merely the start of something far bigger", Mr Psychic says. "So far t...today, the Megaplex fell on me...I fought blitzkrieg, one on one...and I had to t...throw myself into a n...nuclear core. I think I h...have a right to be a little a...annoyed...at the attitudes of others..." Tonic says. "A most impressive feat, doctor. Let none say you have little courage", Mr Psychic says. "I did not say you did not have a right to anger. I for one bear memories that may bring the same, but I chose to ignore those feelings. The Megaplex, as you mention, exploded, and Games Master died trying to protect those who had attacked us", says Crimson Caber. "He did not waste his time!" comes a booming voice. A gorilla leaps out of the smoke and dust, not far from the circle of heroes; Citizen Ape, the former Prime Ape. "He save ME!" he slams a fist on his chest, once. "I take it now would be a poor time to ask about this, 'something far bigger' you mentioned, Percival?" Cain asks, eyes on the ape "Blitzkrieg! We need to stomp Blitzkrieg!" Ape yells "Not at all, my good man. It happened as I was travelling to reunite with you all. I witnessed a strange flash of white. I believe it may have caused death on a massive scale. The bodies of the dead lay in the streets as I made my way here; far too many to have been caught in the battle." "B....Blitzkrieg is a pile of ash in the sewers. I will show you where. y...you can stomp that", Tonic says to Citizen Ape. "Bah. Looking forward to -pounding- him. Fine. Then me done here." The Ape turns around and starts to knuckle-walk away. "Ah, yes - the work of a certain villain I've had the displeasure of being killed by before." Cain continues to Mister Psychic, "You'll be glad to know that, in all likelihood, everything you saw was an illusion." "One certainly hopes so. If that is the case, please elaborate", Mr Psychic says. "Black Nightmare, son of the infamous Doctor Fear... and unfortunately it seems that Surge has given him some newer, more terrifying form." "That could be it. I am certain that those dead were genuine even if the explosion was not." Cain lays a claw on his chin in thought. "An... unfortunate possibility, that the civilians of this fair city found the images... too disturbing to cope with." "Hey- that Ape was pounding the shavit out of me earlier, might we want to-.. do something?" Sonne calls out. "Quite so," Mr Psychic says to Cain, "Though there are those among this fine city that have a remarkable will. While there were many dead, some still live." "Cain...speaking of new forms...Blitzkrieg also h...had one..." Crimson Caber says "Sonne, the ape was under Blitzkrieg's control, and had pledged to destroy him. However, it seems Tonic has dealt with Blitzkrieg. However, Kaan'Qsst has gathered a group of villains, who are currently enacting a plan of their own... you may be right to worry about the Ape, lest Kaan'Qsst seeks him out." He then looks at the team. "The issue of Kaan'Qsst is something we need to address." Cain gives Mister Psychic a pleasant nod in response to his words, then Caber a 'look' at his. "And what of Kaan'Qsst, Crimson?" "Firstly... " Crimson Caber thumbs at Citizen Ape, walking further and further away, but still visible "Do any of you wish to apprehend the ape?" "I w...would, but I d...don't think being punched by him in my c...current state would end well", says Tonic. Yu speaks up, after watching and listening in silence. Throughout, he kept his expression guarded, keeping his thoughts to himself. "I can." Sonne flexes his muscles. "Right, let's buy some time to deliberate. LUCKY, capacitors to full, pin that ape." "Let me know when you're ready." Yu takes his bo from its sheathe on his back and extends it to ready with a flick. "Majority of nearby targets are apes. Do you refer to the gorilla?" LUCKY says in Sonne' shead "... I swear some of Grandad is in there. Yes, the fleeing primate criminal!" "Please, Gunn, please don't regret this..." Cain says. "Charging ZiPPE; restraint beam mode", LUCKY announces telepathically to Sonne through his nanites. "I...If you would excuse me I...I think I need to...." Tonic wanders over to a piece of rubble and sits on one edge of it. "I will see to the lady. I have something I wish to ask her", Mr Psychic says. Sonne holds out his hand at the retreating ape, who has his back turned. "Wait. Let me talk to him first. If he turns violent, then grab him", Yu says. Mr Psychic stands to the side of Tonic, "Now, I do not wish to cause alarm in the rest of the team, but I did notice you making use of abilities I have not witnessed you using whilst in training. They seemed closer to those of that fellow working with Blitzkrieg to develop the nanite bombs as well as misappropriating my own technology." "That is b...because you are r...right. They belonged to Wrench, not me." "I see. Might I inquire how you came to possess his abilities?" Sonne gives Yu a nod, as the comic cuts between the two situations. Yu teleports in front of Citizen Ape, who leaps back a little. "You give fright. Nearly smash you" he says. "I t...took and s...slightly altered a sample of his nanites...his body was buried in the rubble with me", Tonic says. "They are a...also how my p...powers could affect Blitzkrieg when he was a n...non physical form. My powers a...and Wrench's nanites combined did what I c...could not. Even Blitzkrieg could not c...control me. Mastering Wrench's nanites was e...easy in comparison." Mr Psychic nods, "I see. As long as you suffer no ill effects from them." "I already h...have...everything now...just atoms...I can't see people anymore...it is all the same, just structures...but n...no matter. Wrench is just f...fragments of memories now...the radiation did this to me, but the nanites...destroyed." Yu looks up at Citizen Ape. "We cannot just let you go. There are still some things that you must answer for. Joining us would work towards that negative karma." "Join you. What, like lizard? Why? Blitzkrieg smashed. Otherwise, your human conflicts mean nothing. I must find my kind. Protect them. Out of way." "So you were the one to avert the potential nuclear disaster... will you be alright? I imagine even powers such as yours would have their limit", Psychic says. "Yes...that was me. I finished j...just as Sonne reached me." "No." Yu looks almost serene as he stands before Citizen Ape, staff planted. "You forget. Apes jump." Citizen Ape leaps up through the air Sonne's fires out the anit-grav beam, which wraps around Citizen Ape, but he pushes through it, with immense strength as he leaps up and over Yu's head. Sonne's suit glows a brighter red, as he pushes the beam further, again trying to envelop the gorilla. But still, the gorilla tears his way through, as if frantically swimming through the air. "Scrapshunt! LUCKY, redirect powers to Zero-G movement, let's get ahead of the game!" "Command acknowledged." Sonne boosts past Citizen Ape, and arcs round in front of him, to intercept, as Yu taps his teleporter and appears in between them. Yu lunges forward, sweeping his bo around to quickly strike at the backs of Citizen Ape's knees, trying to trip him. Citizen Ape wraps his arms around Yu, spinning them both. "Treacherous human SCUM!" He flings Yu behind him. "Prime Ape was RIGHT!" Yu flies backwards towards the ground "You humans will always try and CONTROL US!" Yu hits his teleporter before he hits the ground. "You... have... NO.... r-" Yu teleports in front of him. Right fist first. "This isn't about control, this is about answering crimes." "I have commited no DAMN CRIME!" he punches Yu's fist aside, as the two of them fly entangled through the air. Yu doesn't respond, too focused on trading blows with Citizen Ape as they tumble, sent sailing through the air together from Ape's momentum.. "Ah, it appears we have a loose end to deal with. One moment." Mr Psychic pushes a button on his top hat as it spins into action and fires a beam at the angry ape. The pink beam engulfs Citizen Ape's head "ArrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRGGGH GET OUT MY SK-" He collapses around Yu, as Yu grabs hold of him, slamming his feet into the ground, and lowering the unconsious gorilla, gently. There is no phyiscal harm to him, though dribble comes from his mouth. "Gracious me... it's a sad day indeed where the only one who seems to have any sympathy for the ape, is the dinosaur." Cain sighs, with a head shake. Great Briton pats him on the shoulder. "I sympathise as well. Though not the child I was, I can't help but appreciate talking gorillas as much as I do talking dinosaurs." Mr Psychic walks up to them, "Better than to have both sides suffer more injury is how I rationalise it." "Speaking of injury... if i was Reb i call heal our fallen allies" says Great Briton he says, looking to Toimmy and the others and with a golden glow, turns back to Reb, or Little Briton. "Yes!" he fists pumps the air. "Little Briton is back, and ready to give us a little help if there's Conquest to deal with!" Yu frowns faintly, bemused, but says nothing. Golden energy flows out from Little Briton as Tommy and the others, including the two Mega Heroes, get up to their feet, looking rather confused. "Conquest...Kaan'Qsst...I remember! ...his allies...their names...their faces...no...W...Wrench remembers...but...first, I..." Tonic holds out a hand towards Citizen Ape, and twists it "S...stay still." Citizen Ape's arms seem to sink into the ground as it becomes mud and then solidifies to concrete again. And then Prime Ape glows green with a green energy aura, as his boy shinks down and then disappears. She doubles over again, whimpering with pain "R...Rajah's powers. I...I recognise those..." There is a loud SQUAR; it seems directed at Tonic, almost, as a black crow flies over and swoops down at Yu's feet and then flies off into the air, flying a heck of a lot faster than any crow you've ever seen. "... you've become very concerning, very quickly, Tonic." Cain comments, looking over to where Prime Ape was and not to her "Wait-...Rajah? Hey! You owe me one!" Sonne calls. Mr Psychic raises an eyebrow at where Prime Ape was lying. "R...Rajah took Citizen Ape." "This is a lot for a blind kid to take in, okay? Everyone regroup, let's... assess things", Sonne says. "This is a distraction. Kaan'Qsst is a pressing issue... however, as the freed villains are gathering under him..." Crimson Caber puts a hand to chin. "And nobody crush Citizen Slug." Cain says curtly, as Crimson Caber flies up into the air after the crow. "C...Cain actually acknowledging my existence as more than a burden...m...makes a change..." Tonic reflects. "And...I know who Kaan'Qsst has gathered..." Crimson Caber reaches out in front of him and creating a massive energy sphere of red energy in the sky, which the crow hits."Target restrained!" he shouts below, in a more robotic manner. Then the crow flies through the sphere. But red energy wraps around it, slowing it. "Correction- target slowed!" The crow appears to be carrying Citizen Ape at full size and is thus much stronger than it appears. ... is the robot stealing my trick? The robot is totally stealing my trick", Sonne says. "Incorrect. The cybernetic life-form is manipulating the energy natural to this dimension, not zero point energy", LUCKY says to Sonne. As the crow is flying through the energy field, Yu teleports into the air below him and then teleports in front of it, as he tucks into a ball and tries to catch the crow. He locks around Citizen Ape's unconscious form, and puts a hand round the crow, holding it in place, as he teleports back to the ground with them. The crow is flapping frantically against the grapple, and surprisingly strong in Yu's grasp. "Peace...peace..." Yu speaks in a calming manner. "And what, you throw me in prison -too-? He was going to help you and you turned on him? Is that my fate as well?" the crow squarks in a well spoken Indian accent "NO wonder Kaan'Qsst is gathering a little army, by the sound of it. We've spent Vishnu knows how long here as slaves, and now you are going to come, you self righteous fools, and throw us all in jail!" The Rajah squarks Yu frowns with irritations as he's spoken back to by a crow, still keeping Rajah and Ape held to his chest. "Settle down. We cannot let him go off alone. He could make amends. So could you." Rajah looks at Cain. "What, like -him-? Of course, as a lackey to a super-villain, he gets away with it. But me... please. I won't be allowed such a -luxurious- life style as the so-called Cutthroat, there." Parry, the swordswoman of the Mega Heroes, steps just past Yu;she walks at normal speed, rather than the superspeed blur those who may have seen her before will expect and her sword does not glow. She points at the bird's chest "He is just distracting you. Kaan'Qsst needs to be dealt with." She looks back at Glub. "Shall we deal with that, or as so called 'rebels', are you going to arrest us too?" 21:50:30 Christopher Dean: (The Mega heroes were anti-gspd heroes, operating indepdantly and ilegally, before this shit went down." Iron Jack steps foward. "I have no idea what the hell is going on here, and how everyone but me isn't suddenly dead, but this city is falling down, and if there are bad guys on the loose, actually up to bad things, then maybe we should address that, and if the talking crow wants to fly away, let him. We have bigger issues." Yu looks up at them. "They should help us in that." "Don't think you made any convincing arguments, looking at the way he is struggling" says Iron Jack Tommy Gunn stomps over to Yu and the crow. He bends down. "You see the dinosaur back there? Reformed super-villain. Proof that we stick to our word. Help us with reclaiming this city, and you get the same offer Cain did." "With my record... you can't hold to that!" Rajah spits back. Gunn looks back to the others "Okay, I'm punching him now." "Raj... there's no point in me giving you freedom from Blitz without knowing what that freedom means. Freedom to work together, to be accountable in law. So the strong don't pray on the weak, as Blitz did to all of you", Sonne says. "I agree with Iron Jack...I know who we need to be dealing with." Tonic sways a little. "Kaan'Qsst's forces...Icarus...Dark Magician...they t...tried to recruit Dungeon Master...and then...they h...have Rook in the real world...Karn'Daasak a...assembling an army in the Ethereal...but I...I don't r...remember what their p...plan is...I'm sorry...Wrench must not've known it...but please...just...carry on n...not listening to me...I'm sure your petty squabbles about something that will not happen if we don't act are MUCH more important..." Cain, quietly listening on the edge, looks annoyed for a second and steps into the conversation. "Oh, yes, of course, the overwhelming villain population of the city! The one that Blitzkrieg gave Surge to, making them unimaginably powerful!" Cain chimes in, rife with sarcasm, "My my, wouldn't it be wonderful if we small few had the power to take them all down with this merry little band we have! If only we had some form of backup. Perhaps from, say... hmm, a worldwide organisation full of super beings? I wonder if they'd be qualified to take over, now that the *mind controlling super Nazi* has had his toys taken away?" "Cain. Shut up", Tonic says. "No madam, YOU shut up" says Tops, marching over to her. "You will give my friend the respect he desereved. He saved the city as much as you, whilst you ''all '', as I seem to recall, left me to die, so I don't feel you possess a moral high ground!" Tops yells in her face "That's ENOUGH. Can we put aside our grudges for another measily hour?!" Sonne shouts. "I was left to die as well. Direct your rage elsewhere." Tonic is perfectly calm as she says this "Oh yes, teamwork Young Gunn... I'd believe your argument, after you saved me, if it weren't for your team's sheer..." says Rajah. There is a massive green glow around him. "...INCOMPETENCE!" He turns into a jet, flinging anybody near him to the ground, as he jets off into the sky, Citizen Ape gone with him. He is quickly gone from sight in the purple sky. Tommy Gunn drops to his knees "Go Team." End of issue